May 18, 2026 · 49 min · 15 segments
OMG, I adored Katie Hoskins’ debut novel, *When the Party’s Over*! In so many ways, it’s the PERFECT book – nailing structure and narrative to tell a nuanced and contemporary story. In this episode…
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Now, a friend of mine was over at my art studio a couple of weeks ago, and she said something that kind of stuck with me.
She was standing in front of one of my paintings, and for those of you who don't know, um, apart from being a writer, I paint, mostly flowers and still life and eggs.
Um, but anyway, she said, really sincerely, "I wish I could paint, but I can't even draw a stick figure." And I said to her, "You could.
I mean, you just haven't learnt yet." And she looked at me like I'd said something, you know, slightly unhinged.
But because we have this idea that art and writing is something you either have or you don't, you know, the skill of writing, that you're either born with it or you're not, and if you sit down to draw something and it comes out wonky, well, that settles it.
But, you know, I've been painting long enough now to tell you that every painter I know, including the ones who sell works for tens of thousands of dollars, they started out doing wonky drawings, and they kept going.
You know, and along the way they studied perspective or figured out color theory or trained their eye to see things properly.
And I'm telling you this because I hear the writing equivalent of that conversation all the time.
Um, real writers instinctively know how to do it, and I don't." So, no, they don't.
You know, they figured out structure, or they learnt structure, and dialogue, and how to ... a scene holds together, and all the other bits and pieces that make writing feel effortless when you read it.
Every one of those things is a technique someone learned and practiced until it became automatic.
And this is something I hear over and over from our graduates at the Australian Writers' Centre.
Now, a friend of mine was over at my art studio a couple of weeks ago, and she said something that kind of stuck with me.
She was standing in front of one of my paintings, and for those of you who don't know, um, apart from being a writer, I paint, mostly flowers and still life and eggs.
Um, but anyway, she said, really sincerely, "I wish I could paint, but I can't even draw a stick figure." And I said to her, "You could.
I mean, you just haven't learnt yet." And she looked at me like I'd said something, you know, slightly unhinged.
But because we have this idea that art and writing is something you either have or you don't, you know, the skill of writing, that you're either born with it or you're not, and if you sit down to draw something and it comes out wonky, well, that settles it.
But, you know, I've been painting long enough now to tell you that every painter I know, including the ones who sell works for tens of thousands of dollars, they started out doing wonky drawings, and they kept going.
You know, and along the way they studied perspective or figured out color theory or trained their eye to see things properly.
And I'm telling you this because I hear the writing equivalent of that conversation all the time.
Um, real writers instinctively know how to do it, and I don't." So, no, they don't.
You know, they figured out structure, or they learnt structure, and dialogue, and how to ... a scene holds together, and all the other bits and pieces that make writing feel effortless when you read it.
Every one of those things is a technique someone learned and practiced until it became automatic.
And this is something I hear over and over from our graduates at the Australian Writers' Centre.
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